Lifestyle : Green

Make Small Changes in Your Everyday Tasks this Earth Day

This is a Guest Post written by Kate Harrison, CEO of the Green Life Guides and GreenBrideGuide.com.

You can easily conserve resources in your everyday life just by making a few small changes in and around your home.

Here are some other ways to green your day-to-day duties:

1. Grocery Shopping: Green your trash bags. It is so easy and inexpensive to get trash bags made from recycled or biodegradable material these days that there is little excuse not to use them. You can buy a roll at most supermarkets or online from Kokopelli’s Green Market (kokogm.com). Bring your own reusable tote to the grocery store with you. Leave a few totes in the trunk of your car or stash them away in your purse for unexpected trips.

2. Skip the Suds: Try a green detergent such as 7th Generation which comes in a recycled cardboard bottle. You can also use a detergent designed for cold water; using cold water for each wash load saves energy, which is good for the earth, and also saves money, which is great for your wallet. Cold water detergents are formulated to fight dirt and stains just as well as their warm water counterparts.

Use a dishwasher instead of washing plates by hand. Buy an Energy Star Rated washer, and only run it when it is full, skipping the pre-rinse cycle.

3. Choose Non-Toxic Cleaning Products: For every commercial and chemical based product on the market, there is probably a greener alternative…or even a homemade substitution:

Baking Soda: This is great for cleaning, deodorizing, softening water and scouring dishes.

Soap: Unscented soap in liquid, flake or powder form is biodegradable and will clean just about anything.

Cornstarch: Can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs.

Citrus Solvent: Cleans paintbrushes, oil and grease and some stains.

4. Green Your Pet: The carbon emissions emitted from the production and transportation of your pet’s food can be quite high; to offset this, look for healthy food alternatives. While organic pet food may cost a bit more, it is made with renewable resources and no pesticides or environmentally unfriendly fertilizers. Whether it comes in bottles, bags or cans, chances are that your pet’s food containers can be recycled.

Scooping poop is no fun for anyone but you can make it more environmentally friendly by using biodegradable bags, which are available at most pet stores. This is an excellent alternative to using plastic bags which are nearly impossible to decompose.